The American Geriatrics Society - News - American Geriatrics Society Applauds Senate Vote that Moves Healthcare Reform Bill Forward Reform Legislation Would Help Ensure Older Adults Access to Quality, Cost-Effective Care

For Immediate Release
December 22, 2009

For Further Information:
Erin Weller
(212) 308-1414
eweller@americangeriatrics.org

American Geriatrics Society Applauds
Senate Vote that Moves Healthcare Reform Bill Forward

Reform Legislation Would Help Ensure
Older Adults Access to Quality, Cost-Effective Care

New York, NY - The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) hails the Senate's procedural vote that allows the Senate to move forward with its proposed healthcare reform plan. The plan includes a wide range of provisions that would help ensure older adults access to quality, cost-effective care, and make the Medicare program more sustainable. The AGS -- a nonprofit organization of geriatrics healthcare professionals dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of older people -- has long advocated for many of the provisions in the bill.

"We are extremely pleased by the outcome of the vote on the Senate healthcare reform plan, which would significantly improve access to quality, cost-effective care for America's seniors," said AGS President Cheryl Phillips, MD.

The Senate plan would help address growing eldercare workforce shortages and improve access to eldercare through the significant expansion of geriatrics educational and training programs for healthcare professionals and direct-care workers. It would also establish a Graduate Medical Education policy allowing unused training slots to be reallocated in ways that increase the ranks of -- and seniors' access to -- primary care providers.

The Senate legislation would reform Medicare payment policy so it more equitably reimburses those who care for older adults. It would address the deepening disparity in payments to geriatricians and other primary care providers through a 10% Medicare bonus payment for designated primary care services. And it would create a physician "value-based payment program" aimed at improving the quality of care beneficiaries receive.

Under the Senate bill, Medicare would establish an "Innovation Center" to test new payment and care delivery approaches aimed at further enhancing the quality of eldercare and reducing costs. It would fund demonstration projects to evaluate such promising models of care as those providing comprehensive geriatric assessments and care coordination for older patients with multiple chronic illnesses.

Other provisions in the Senate reform plan would improve seniors' health by eliminating beneficiaries' co-pays and deductibles for preventive care; by shrinking the Medicare drug plan's "donut hole" coverage gap; and by establishing new programs to lower hospital readmission rates among Medicare patients. The bill also calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy for improving the quality of care provided through Medicare and other programs. And the legislation would create a national commission to ensure that the nation's healthcare workforce meets America's needs.

ABOUT THE AGS
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (www.americangeriatrics.org) is a non-profit organization of more than 6,400 healthcare professionals whose shared mission is to improve the health, independence and quality of life of older people. Our vision for the future is that all older adults will have access to quality healthcare that meets their unique needs. To achieve this, the Society focuses on: advancing eldercare research; enhancing clinical practice in eldercare; raising public awareness of the healthcare needs of older people; and advocating for public policy that ensures older adults access to quality, appropriate, cost-effective care. The Society is a pivotal force in shaping practices, policies and perspectives in the field.